Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Stock Price

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) had its price objective increased by Morgan Stanley from $736.00 to $782.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the investment management company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $610.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $589.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of GS opened at $612.17 on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group has a fifty-two week low of $372.07 and a fifty-two week high of $616.84. The firm has a market cap of $192.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.96, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $585.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $528.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The business had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.24 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.21%.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.08, for a total value of $3,060,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 608,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $372,404,774. The trade was a 0.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total value of $4,001,460.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 117,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,015,903.53. This trade represents a 5.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,940 shares of company stock valued at $12,656,179 in the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,713,325,000 after buying an additional 7,475,140 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,898,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,435,144,000 after purchasing an additional 521,054 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 7,932.6% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 444,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $200,959,000 after purchasing an additional 438,754 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 154.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 414,867 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $205,403,000 after buying an additional 251,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 829.0% during the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 260,317 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $128,886,000 after acquiring an additional 232,297 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

About The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc, a financial institution, provides a range of financial services for corporations, financial institutions, governments, and individuals worldwide. It operates through Global Banking & Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, and Platform Solutions segments. The Global Banking & Markets segment provides financial advisory services, including strategic advisory assignments related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense activities, restructurings, and spin-offs; and relationship lending, and acquisition financing, as well as secured lending, through structured credit and asset-backed lending and involved in financing under securities to resale agreements.